When biological soft tissue, such as a ligament, tendon, or cartilage, becomes separated from related bone, surgical procedures are commonly employed for reattachment of the soft tissue. Various devices, including sutures, screws, staples, wedges, and plugs have been used to secure soft tissue to bone. Additionally, structures known as suture anchors have been developed for this purpose.
Some suture anchors are designed to be inserted into a pre-drilled hole, while other suture anchors are threaded and self-tapping. Some suture anchors include an eyelet for receiving a suture, while other anchors are cylindrical and adapted for holding a knotted piece of suture, while still other anchors include a strand of suture insert molded in the anchor. Certain suture anchors having one or more generally parabolic eyelets are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,080 to Morgan, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The Morgan patent describes suture anchor arrangements having multiple eyelets for securing two or more sutures to a desired location on a bone, but these arrangements may be susceptible to breakage or structural failure around the eyelets under certain conditions.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved suture anchor capable of securing multiple sutures for reattachment of soft tissue to bone. What are also needed are kits including such suture anchors and arthroscopic apparatus for surgery using such anchors.